Prof. Charles Ayo, Vice-Chancellor, Trinity University, Yaba, Lagos has advised the Federal Government to reduce the cost of governance in order to achieve sustainable national development.
Ayo, also a former Vice-Chancellor of Covenant University, Ota, gave the advice in an interview with the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Ota, Ogun, on Thursday.
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He noted that high cost of governance in the country was partly responsible for the heavy debt serving in the nation’s annual budget.
“I implore the Federal Government to emulate Italy that reduced the size of its parliament to save about N450 billion over 10 years.
“Also, Senegal scrapped its Senate and the office of the vice-president in 2012 to reduce the cost of governance in their country and free up money for development,” he said.
The don stressed the need to urgently reduce unnecessary expenses that do not add economic value to the economy.
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He added that a situation whereby more funds were allocated to the Senate than to education and health in the budget was not healthy for the country.
The don also called for improved budgetary allocation to the education sector, saying massive investment in the sector was the only way the country could achieve sustainable growth and compete favourably in a globalised world.
